Conventional clothes dryers are constructed of a tumbler configured to hold clothes, a motor for rotating the tumbler, a heating element for heating air, a fan for blowing the heated air across the clothes while the clothes are in the tumbler, and an exhaust conduit for venting the heated air from the dryer. The heating element may be electric or gas powered. Because a clothes dryer includes a heating element, a fire risk always exists.
Conventional clothes dryers include many different safety devices for reducing the likelihood of a fire, particularly if lint builds up in the dryer. For instance, a conventional clothes dryer often includes a lint screen for removing lint from the air coming from a tumbler. The lint screen is often placed in an easily accessible location, such as in a slot in a top surface of the clothes dryer, or adjacent the door of the dryer, and covers an exhaust conduit where the conduit leaves the tumbler. The lint screen collects lint from the air that has been picked up from the clothing in the tumbler. Most, if not all, manufacturers of clothes dryers recommend that lint screens be cleaned after each load of clothes is dried. Otherwise, an unacceptable amount of lint may build up on the lint screen and pose a fire hazard and prevent efficient operation. However, not all users may be conscientious about cleaning the lint screen after each use. Additionally, lint screens are typically not capable of removing all the lint from the exhaust air, and thus it is almost inevitable that some lint will enter the exhaust conduit.
Clothes dryers also typically contain heat sensors, such as thermocouples, for preventing dryers from overheating and causing fires. Most clothes dryers position a thermocouple proximate to a heating element of the clothes dryer. In this position, the thermocouple is capable of monitoring the area surrounding the heating element and can be used to determine whether the air surrounding the heating element is exceeding a predetermined threshold temperature. If the air becomes too hot, the thermocouple breaks a circuit, which thereby turns the dryer off and prevents the dryer from operating. The temperature of the air surrounding the heating element is monitored because the air surrounding the heating element often becomes too hot for safe operation when an exhaust conduit contains a blockage, for example, caused by a lint build-up. Blockages in the exhaust conduits are dangerous because the blockages can cause the heating element to overheat and ignite lint near the heating element.
A problem exists with dryers in that many exhaust hoses or conduits for clothes dryers are incorrectly installed such that the exhaust conduits have internal diameters that are too small, or are restrained by having to extend through an angle to reach an exhaust vent or are placed in a restricted location. Such configurations accelerate lint collection on inside surfaces of the exhaust conduits, which may eventually result in partial or total blockage of the exhaust conduit. Such accumulation of lint may occur relatively quickly or over a longer period, such as a few years, and may go unnoticed by a homeowner. Such conditions can be extremely dangerous.
While the conventional configuration of locating a thermocouple proximate to heating elements in a dryer has undoubtedly prevented many fires, dryers having this configuration remain susceptible to fires. Additionally, thermocouples can and do break down and become inoperable, rendering the safety device incapable of shutting down the dryer when a dangerous condition exists. In fact, dryers remain one of the most dangerous household appliances. Thus, a need exists for a system for improving the safety of clothes dryers.